


The Night Is Young

by Regenbogen



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Blood Drinking, Hunter!Akechi, M/M, Vampire!Ren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 22:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16463669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regenbogen/pseuds/Regenbogen
Summary: Ren Amamiya knew about vampires his entire life. How they were undead creatures of the night, how they possed inhuman powers, how their most notable marks on the world were killing and being killed by the hunters.Yet when Ren becomes one of them himself, he can't help but make the most foolish move possible: falling for one of the hunters.





	The Night Is Young

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who has two other unfinished works.  
> Guess who decided to start another one anyway.

“Who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good kitty?” Ren said as the cat in his lap rubbed itself against his lap. “You are! Yes, you are!” He smiled as the cat in question curled itself up in a ball.

He liked how warm the cat’s fur felt against his hand. It was definitely a lot warmer than his room, that’s for sure. Even his thick sweater was only doing so much.

“Ren!” his mother shouted through his bedroom door. “Come down here! I need your help.”

“Be there in a moment!” Ren shouted back.

When he put the feline down on his bed and got up, he was quickly met with annoyed meowing. “Sorry I can’t pet you any longer.” he said “But I have to go help mom.”

Truthfully, he didn’t want to stop petting the feline either. But he knew that if he didn’t do what his mother asked of him, then he’d be in for a long lecture about how ‘Every minute of your life is precious’ and/or ‘You’ve only got so much time before you die’. And he really wasn’t in the mood for it.

Making his way to the kitchen, Ren found his mother just sitting at the table, drinking her tea.

“Ah, Ren, good that you’re here. Those dishes need to be put away.” She said while pointing at a large pile of plates, cups, and whatever else was in there.

_Best not to argue with her and just get it over with._ Ren sighed before he got to work.

While he was putting the dishes away, she asked “So, you’re going to a study group with your friends?”

“Yeah.” Ren simply said as he picked up a glass. In the corner of his eye, he saw his mother looking at her phone.

“Do you want me to drive you there? The weather report says it’ll be foggy out by the time you’re done.”

“Mom, I’ve gone there and back hundreds of times. I can handle myself.” Ren replied as he put the last plate in the cupboard.

“Then at least put your coat on, this time.” She said, making her irritation at the memory of that incident very clear.

“Fine…” Ren said, still not regretting what he did. A few weeks ago, his friends had dared him with a bet of 5.000 yen to walk all the way to school and back without his jacket. And even though getting that nasty cold and having to miss school for a few days wasn’t fun, winning that bet and seeing the looks on their faces totally was.

Taking a look at the kitchen clock and seeing that it was time to go, Ren got dressed and headed outside. The freezing cold of January was just as ready to greet Ren as always as he stepped onto the porch. Shoving his hands tighter in his coat pockets, he began trudging his way through the 15 centimeters of snow covering the side walk.

“MEOW!!” a cat screamed from behind him. Turning around, he saw that it was the same black and white cat that he’d been feeding and playing with behind his parents’ backs.

He was about to, bend over, pet it, and maybe ask why it’d followed him, when the feline suddenly lunged at him and clawed at his pants leg.

“Meow Meow Meow…!”

“Are you trying to tell me something?” Ren asked, confused by this sudden shift in behavior.

The cat was just kept meowing and pulled even harder at his pants. If he kept this up, he might end up tearing them.

“Do you want me to go home? To keep playing with you?” Ren asked.

The cat began purring, as if he understood what Ren had just said. Ren wasn’t surprised by this reaction at all. Not long after the cat had started to really take a liking to him, Ren noticed that he was actually rather smart for an animal. He often seemed to know just what to do and how to act in most situations, such as not getting caught by his parents.

“I know you want to keep playing with me. But I have school work that needs to be done.” Ren calmly said as he knelt down and tried to reach for the cat’s head.

He didn’t seem to like it though, as he just kept meowing like he was in a panic. Not knowing what else to do, he got back up and continued walking. And the little hairball was just as stubborn as he was intelligent, as he kept clinging to Ren’s leg, not wanting to let him go.

Eventually though, Ren managed to get him off his tail. Seeing the many clouds in the sky, feeling the snowflakes touch his cheeks, and the snow cling to his boots, he headed off.

 

+++

 

_“Ren… Ren…”_ A voice from… somewhere called. Everything felt so… cloudy, that he could barely focus at all.

“Ugh…”

_“Oh thank God, he’s starting to wake up.”_

Ren’s entire body felt like it had gotten hit by a truck; every one of his limbs hurt like hell, and his torso fared little better. His head felt fuzzy and disoriented. When he tried to open his eyes, the sudden brightness quickly forced them shut again.

“What’s the matter?” An unfamiliar voice asked, presumably to him.

“Light… bright… hurts…” he somehow managed to croak out.

_What’s going on? Where am I?_

After he saw the lights being dimmed through his closed eyes, he still needed a while before he could properly open them. Thankfully, during that time the pain in the rest of his body somewhat faded as well. Not completely, but definitely much better than before.

Once his eyes were open, Ren sat himself up. His head propped up on the pillow, he looked around the room to see where he was.

It was a standard hospital room. To his right was a window with the curtains closed. Near the wall in the back were a bunch of medical devices of which Ren did not know the purpose of. To his left was another bed, this one empty, as well as the door to the room.

Sitting down on chairs next to the latter were his parents. For some reason, both of them had looks of joy and relief on their faces. His mother was both the first to get up and the first to speak.

“Ren! You’re awake! Oh, I’m so glad.” She went up to his bed and sat down at the foot of it, turning to face him.

“Mom? What happened? Why am I in the hospital?”

“You don’t remember?” his father asked.

Ren raised his hand to his forehead. As he tried to sort out his memories, he began feeling lightheaded and dizzy.

“No… I don’t… remember… The last things I can recall are me being in a fog… and then there was this strange light… coming towards me… Ugh…” Ren felt a sudden headache at that moment.

“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t force yourself.” His father said as he stood next to the bed.

Feeling overwhelmed again, Ren just let gravity keep him pinned to the mattress. Just then, the doctor came in. Turning his head to the side, he saw that the doctor looked both surprised and relieved at the sight.

“Oh, you finally woke up. How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Tired…” he mumbled.

“He said he has some trouble remembering what happened to him.” His father said, looking concerned.

“It’s probably just due to the shock he must have been in. I doubt it’s serious.”

Shock? Why would he have been in shock? What happened to him? He tried to ask, but the fatigue only let him croak out a simple “Wha…”

Thankfully they seemed to understand, as his father asked “Is it safe to tell him?”

The doctor shook his head. “You should probably wait until he’s regained some more of his strength. Too much at once could easily overwhelm him.”

“Then… How long will it take till he recovers? And how long will it take before he can go back to school?” his mother asked. _Of course she’d be the one to ask those questions._ Ren thought as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“It’s too soon to say. His condition will need to be monitored for a while. But if I had to say, my guess would be only a few more days.”

Barely noticing the slight disappointment on his mother’s face, Ren slightly raised his hand and asked “Can I… sleep…?”

He didn’t want to be rude, but he was just so tired.

Luckily for him, his barely conscious mind picked up the yeses that were said. While the grown-ups were chatting about something, Ren let himself gracefully slide into the darkness.

When he woke up again, his parents were nowhere to be found. Neither were any doctors or nurses. It was just him. As he looked to the window, the position of the sun told him that it was the middle of afternoon.

Sitting himself up, Ren, now having much more of his strength back, thought about what had happened to him. Yesterday (Or was it more days ago? He had no way of knowing what day it was right now.) he went to a study group at one of his friend’s house. There was nothing out of the ordinary during it. When he left to go home, it was foggy out. There was a lot of snow… and fog… and then there was this light… was there a noise too…?

Feeling his head start to hurt again, he immediately abandoned that train of thought. It would definitely not help him get better any faster.

Ren was almost worried about what to do without any company, when he noticed a book laying on the table next to his bed. Picking it up, he immediately recognized it. A few days ago, he’d picked up a detective novel on a whim from the school’s library. And soon enough, he found himself getting a lot more invested in it than he expected.

His heart felt warm at the thought that parents must have left it here for him. The bookmark was even on the same page he’d left it at.

Although… did his parents even know he had this book? He doesn’t recall having ever mentioned it to them and last he checked he left it in his schoolbag.

_Eh, whatever._

As he opened the book, he thought he heard a noise from somewhere. Looking around, he didn’t see anything. Dismissing that thought, he went back to reading.

Time passed silently, and just as he was about to reach the part where the detective exposes the culprit (who Ren is 99.9% sure to have already figured out) somebody came into the room. As he lifted his head, he saw that it was just a nurse bringing him his dinner.

After exchanging a few formalities with her, she left the tray with him and then left him alone again. Before he began eating, he just now noticed how late it was. He must have unconsciously turned on the light next to his bed while reading, as when he looked out the window, it was already pitch black outside.

The foods consisted of a bowl of rice, some fish, and what Ren guessed was supposed to be soup, but instead, to put it nicely, looked more like a bowl of watered down diarrhea. To the side was a simple cup of water, most likely to help force the mud-water down his throat.

Ignoring the bowl of filth, Ren decided to just start with the rice. Firmly squeezing it between the chopsticks, he put a sizable helping in his mouth. They must not have cooked it properly or something, as Ren found that the rice tasted like nothing. No flavor, no response from his taste buds, nothing.

Not really paying it too much mind (it was just rice, after all), Ren simply ate the rest of it in silence. Once he was done, he turned his attention to the fish. Picking a piece up and taking a bite of it, he found that it had just as much taste as the rice did, i.e. none at all.

As he tried to chew the food longer to see if that would do anything, Ren noticed that chewing the meat felt surprisingly relaxing. Even if the fish felt a little too dry for his liking.

Soon enough, there was nothing left on his tray but the water and the other stuff. Quickly downing the liquid, Ren chose to ignore whatever that other stuff was, in favor of finishing his book.

By the time the nurse came back to pick up the dishes, Ren had long since finished reading his novel. Not wanting to have to explain himself for not eating all of the food, he simply pretended to be asleep so he wouldn’t have to explain himself.

It was a fun experience, tricking the nurse. How he had to be still enough to appear asleep and not be too noisy, or she’d see through the ruse. How he had to make sure not react at the noises she made when she saw that he didn’t eat the soup. How he had to make sure that he waited for a bit after she left, just in case she came back in for whatever reason.

Once he was sure she wouldn’t come back in, the most triumphant feeling filled his gut. Knowing he had succeeded, a small smirk made its way on his face.

But as soon as that emotion passed, Ren wasn’t sure of what to do, since he didn’t feel tired in the slightest. He tried to force his eyes shut and to just let sleep overtake him, but that just didn’t seem to want to work.

After giving it a few more tries, he eventually gave up.

Now stuck in a rather awkward position, Ren thought about what he could do. The only thing he could think of was to try and read some more, but then he’d have to turn on the light and he really didn’t feel like doing that. Not to mention the fact that that’d probably net him unwanted attention.

Moving his body around so he’d lie flat on the mattress with his back and face the ceiling, one thought filled his mind.

_This is going to be a long night, isn’t it?_

 

+++

 

In the morning on the day after the next one, Ren was allowed to finally leave the hospital. Which he could honestly not be any more grateful for.

Normally Ren considered himself to be rather calm and collected… most of the time…, but if he had to spend even so much as another hour in that place, he’d probably go stir-crazy. Since his inability to sleep didn’t go away, the second night there was just as dull and drawn out as the first. And rereading the novel to search for earlier clues to the culprit he missed the first time around during the day could only keep him entertained for so long.

There was also that fact that every single piece of food they gave him was completely tasteless. Like, he could not tell one flavor apart from another no matter how hard he tried. Ren wasn’t a food snob, but even he expected his meals to have at least some flavor.

Oh well, no point in thinking about those things now that he was finally let out.

Once he and his father made it to his car and began driving back home, Ren decided to pass the time with conversation.

“So, should I tell mom what the doctor said or will you?” he asked.

“Yeah right! You seriously think I’m gonna be the one to put up with her after being alone with her for days?” his father sealed that statement with a chuckle.

“Point taken. So aside from that, how were these last few days?”

“Well first my boss…”

They continued with some lighthearted banter until Ren felt it was time to ask the big question on his mind.

“Say… dad… how did I end up in the hospital? None of the doctors or nurses wanted to tell me.”

“You still don’t remember?”

“If I did I wouldn’t be asking.”

His father went silent for a moment. As they stopped at red light, the man sighed before speaking. “Well, what they told me was that when you were walking home from your friend’s house, someone assaulted and mugged you. You were just left there. It was a good thing you were found that quickly, or you might actually have died out there in the cold.”

 “I-I see…” Ren was taken back by the fact that someone would do something like that to him. Aside from that serial murder case a few years back, the people in this town were very peaceful and friendly. And even then, the one responsible for them turned out to be someone who wasn’t from the area.

“Did they find out who did it?” he eventually asked, just to break the silence.

“No. They’re looking into it, but they still haven’t found anything, as far as I know.”

An awkward silence filled the air as Ren didn’t know what else to say. It remained for the entire ride home.

 

+++

 

With a loud thunk, Ren plopped down on his usual seat at the kitchen table. His father had left for work shortly after dropping him off at home. As he expected, his mother wasn’t too happy about how he missed those few days of school, and now that he was out of the hospital, she was more vocal about her frustrations.

After enduring a lengthy rant about how he should work extra hard to make up for that lost time and how all of this could have been avoided if he had just let her drive him, she eventually let Ren go.

Even though she wasn’t happy about him missing another day of school, she couldn’t argue with a doctor’s note telling him to do just that.

Shortly before she left, his mother had said she’d be going out and doing some errands, which Ren knew to mean that she wouldn’t be back until the evening. Meaning he had the whole house to himself during that time.

Even so, his mother had insisted he do the homework they had gotten during those days when he was in the hospital while she was gone. And since he figured _‘eh, why not?’_ , that’s what he found himself doing.

It didn’t take long until he found his entire attention was directed at his math problems. It stayed there for quite a while before something broke his concentration.

“Hey, Ren!” an unknown voice called out. It sounded rather young, almost childlike.

“What the…” Ren’s head turned in all directions, desperately trying to find the stranger who addressed him.

“Down here!” the voice called out again. Slowly looking down at the ground, all he saw was the stray cat who’d taken a liking to him after he’d fed him enough times.

“Am I going crazy?” he asked to himself as he stuck a finger in his ear, just to check if it was working properly.

“Oh for the love of…” the apparently talking cat complained before jumping up on his lap. “Don’t you know how rude it is not to reply when you’re spoken to?!”

“Well how else am I supposed to react to a talking cat?” Ren could barely believe what he was hearing.

_Although, thinking back on it, this does explain how he was so good at not getting spotted by my parents._ Ren thought.

“Oh, I don’t know. How about ‘Thanks for saving me, Morgana.’, ‘You’re the best, Morgana.’, ‘I’ll buy you all the fatty tuna you want, Morgana!’… And just for the record, I am not a cat!”

_Okay… could the cat, whose name is Morgana and apparently also not a cat, be any more full of himself?_

Oh, well. Best just to start asking questions. “If you’re not a cat, then what are you? And if you can talk, why haven’t you done so before?”

The creature, which refuses to be called a cat but was currently kneading his lap in a very cat-like fashion, began speaking. “First of all, I’m actually a very talented mage. I’m only stuck in this form because a stupid witch decided to put a curse on me. Second of all, I’ve been talking to you this whole time. You just couldn’t understand me because of the stupid curse making it so that I just sound like a cat to humans.”

Ren was about to ask about Morgana’s age, since witches were driven to extinction hundreds of years ago, before that last part was said. “Wait… are you saying I’m not a human now?”

“Oh my god…” Morgana groaned before putting his paws on his face, as if he were facepalming. “Did your brain cells die along with you?”

“What do you mean?”

Morgana dropped his head, sighed, and mumbled. “That answers that question.” The feline then lifted his head up again.

“Well, I suppose you are still a rookie in the magical world, frizzy hair. So I, generous as I am, will explain it to you in words even you can understand.”

As he tried not to comment on the cat talking down on him, Morgana’s bright blue eyes met his, firm and unwavering.

“Ren, you’re a vampire.”

**Author's Note:**

> Glad I got this out before Oktober was over.
> 
> Just a heads up for those of you who are wondering, with the way I have this story planned, Akechi won't actually show up until chapter 6.


End file.
